The art world has a strong tradition of embracing duos—look at the Swiss photography and video pioneers Peter Fischli and David Weiss; sculpture and installation maestros Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen; and current conceptual darlings Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla.

But twins are a much rarer subset of pairs, and perhaps the most heralded graffiti artists working today are 38-year-old Brazilian identical brothers Otávio and Gustavo Pandolfo. They go by Os Gêmeos—“the twins” in Portuguese—and they are bringing their vibrant street style to Boston this Wednesday with their first solo exhibition in the United States, opening at the Institute of Contemporary Art. (If you’re a fan of twin art, you can also check out the Quay Brothers show that opens at the Museum of Modern Art in New York on August 12th.)

In keeping with graffiti’s heritage, the show isn’t bound by the ICA’s rooms—Os Gêmeos is also tagging a couple of walls around town, too, a project organized by the museum. “We’ve never done anything here before, and it’s exciting,” said Gustavo as he began one outdoor mural with his brother last week. The Pandolfos are known for speed, which they may need, given Boston’s weather. “We’re fast, but we’re worried about rain,” he said. The larger wall should take them about ten days to complete.

Os Gêmeos has a reputation for brilliant color and detail, especially on display in a series of yellow-faced giants that can be seen looming in cities around the world. “I asked them once why they painted giants,” said ICA curator Pedro Alonzo, who organized the show. “They said that the giants’ size was about empowerment. Graffiti is about empowerment: It started as a way for kids on the street to have a voice.”

The Pandolfos—who started tagging while growing up in 1980s São Paulo and still often depict everyday life there—are reverential of graffiti’s history (Gustavo called the late Keith Haring a “brilliant artist”). But according to Alonzo, they have created a look completely of their own: “They are heavily influenced by those traditions, but they don’t imitate. They have their own language and style, and they’ve reconciled graffiti with their Brazilian roots. That’s what’s so important about them: their hybridity.”

Gustavo said that working with Otávio was made easier by something that few artistic collaborators can claim: He and his brother often share dreams. “We have that twin connection,” he said. “We grew up together, we play together, and we can only do this work because of that connection.”

But the question arises: Is that too much togetherness for any pair of siblings, and do they ever get sick of each other? Gustavo didn’t hesitate in answering: “Never.” And he promptly went back to painting alongside his brother.

Os Gêmeos runs through November 25 at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; icaboston.org